How to Build a Real Estate Business With Zero Paid Leads | Referral Marketing Strategy

Harmony Edwards (00:00)
I go to those networking events. I make sure that I’m meeting people specifically in industries where I know our businesses are going to overlap. And I’m not talking about, like, lenders, because a lot of real estate agents, they go after lenders. It’s like, you don’t need to go after lenders. Lenders need you. You go after everybody else that doesn’t really need you, right? And then figure out how you can provide some help for them, and then you trade—

Joseph Crooms (00:15)
Right.

Harmony Edwards (00:24)
—back contacts, and they build relationships with you, become great friends with these people. I go out to eat with them, hang out with them. Like, we’ll travel together now because we have great relationships outside of our network.

Joseph Crooms (02:07)
Hey, everyone. Welcome to Investor Fuel Real Estate Pros Podcast. And today I have someone that I’ve been looking forward to chatting with.

And I—well, but by the way, I am your host. I’m Joseph Crooms. I’m joined by someone I’ve been looking to chat with. Her name is Harmony Edwards. She’s been making some serious moves in the industry. I’m gonna let her talk about it, ’cause she’s sort of was compounding on some things that she networked with, sales team. So, Harmony, glad to have you here. Say hello, everybody.

Harmony Edwards (02:42)
Hello, everybody. I’m so excited to be here.

Joseph Crooms (02:45)
All right, great. So I think our listeners are really going to take away something from how you approach business. So let’s dive right into it. So, first question that we like to ask: for people who are not familiar with your world, Harmony, give us the short version. What’s your main focus these days, and what markets are you operating in?

Harmony Edwards (03:04)
All right. Our main focus these days is I’m with Real Harmony and Associates. That’s our real estate team. We’re a sales team. We’re based out of western Massachusetts, covering the region of Berkshire County. And we do sales on the, you know, listing and buy side, as well as running an investment group that is currently investing in Berkshire County and South Florida, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Hollywood area.

And we are white-labeling numerous services throughout our team. So we have interior design services, roofing, construction, cleaning services, and our clients are able to tap right into our network and utilize our services as, like, a one-stop shop.

Joseph Crooms (03:51)
Harmony, how long have you been involved in real estate?

Harmony Edwards (03:55)
I’ve been in real estate going on my ninth year now, and I have been a real estate agent for six years and a team lead for the last three years.

Joseph Crooms (04:04)
So let me ask this question. What is your pr—you—what is, what is your best service that you serve? Is it real estate, residential, or commercial, or are you just good at both of them?

Harmony Edwards (04:17)
I would love to say I’m just really good at both of them, but my, my fi—my focus and the bulk of our business right now is residential. We’ve been in the process of transitioning the last, like, twelve months over to commercial real estate with the help of having those white-labeled services with the architect and interior designer. So we’ve been able to move into doing larger commercial projects, going in as either leasing agents and also the buying agents.

Joseph Crooms (04:48)
In these last six years, Harmony, what is your volume or revenue monthly that you’ve reached this goal that you’re ready to branch into the commercial, and how—what is your volume or revenue?

Harmony Edwards (05:50)
The volume of revenue is, it’s still low. So we’re, like, averaging out about, like, eighteen thousand a month. But the goal is to push into that commercial. So I did join into the coaching program a few months ago to learn more about syndications and what that looks like as an investment team. So the residential side and the real estate team is where a majority of my revenue is coming in from right now.

But the goal is to transition into commercial investments and have that be a bulk of my own personal revenue, with the team assisting on the sales with that.

Joseph Crooms (06:26)
And what do you project that this commercial—and, well, how, how do you think that’s gonna boost you? What—what do—why did you make this move at this time?

Harmony Edwards (06:36)
I’m making this shift at this time. This has always been my goal. So it’s not like it’s a shift. It’s actually been a plan. So I had an—I had an idea when I got into real estate. I actually never wanted to be a real estate agent. That was never, like, the goal for me. I was like, you know, some people are like, I’m gonna do real estate, I’ll do it until I die, and I’m gonna be a sales agent until they have a heart attack at their showing, right? But that was never, like, the goal for me. I was like, this is gonna be my opportunity to get in

and learn more about the transaction side. I was already doing wholesaling and investments prior to, but I just felt like I didn’t know enough. The market shifted in 2020. So I kind of was also forced to get a real estate license because wholesaling wasn’t—the opportunities weren’t as large there. So essentially, the goal when I started in two thousand eighteen and I first opened my LLC was to eventually be moving into large

mixed-use developments. So not multifamily, but commercial retail with residential upstairs as well. That was always the long-term goal, and now I’m just starting to make that shift towards that milestone.

Joseph Crooms (07:47)
Congratulations. So let me ask you this question. Did you flip homes to start, or how did you get in? When you say investing, can you explain—can you do this? Can you explain wholesale in layman’s terms, and also, also, what is the investment end of real estate?

Harmony Edwards (08:07)
All right. So I always say wholesaling is a part of investments, right? So if you’re gonna be a real estate investor, understanding how to wholesale a property or a contract is essential because it’s an exit strategy and it saves you on your investments. For me, it happened to be a beginning strategy. So instead of being an exit strategy, it was the entrance strategy. Wholesaling is when you put a property under contract, and instead of selling the property, you’re actually selling your rights to purchasing that property. So you’re selling the contract

that you have on that property. So that’s exactly how I got started in real estate. I was going out, making offers on properties, being very clear with the sellers that I was going to assign that property, that contract, to another end buyer. So, and, and what I mean by an exit strategy also is, like, when you are purchasing a property, if for some reason you don’t—you’re not able to finance it and you can’t get out of it, you need to wholesale it to another person, right? So that you don’t, you don’t end up

in a, in a bad position, right? So, so you learn wholesaling as a strategy and investment, but you can use that as an entrance to real estate. And that’s exactly what I did.

Joseph Crooms (09:15)
And that is how you also invest, because the more those—for you hold those—the more that you hold and invest, that’s, that’s the return on your investment.

Harmony Edwards (09:25)
So, and I say that was the investment, but it was an investment of time, more so than deposits, so that I could build up my capital early on. So I was—I started off, I was a single mom. I was working really hard in the healthcare field, and I, and I absolutely hated it. So when I learned about real estate investing and wholesaling, I kind of went after that strategy as a way for me to build up my capital so I could leave my job. And then, as a wholesaler, I started to

build up my network of other investors who were then purchasing those contracts from me.

Joseph Crooms (10:33)
Gotcha. What caught my attention was the way that you’ve been—how you approach that. So thank you for sharing that as well. Let me ask you this question. And I think this is a—a question that our listeners will love to hear. When did you know, I’m ready, I have enough capital to—I’m leaving my job?

Harmony Edwards (10:54)
I’m laughing because I didn’t know. I knew nothing. I was so green that I got my fir—I got my first closing and I gave them my two weeks.

So I’m not gonna say how much capital it was. It was seven thousand dollars.

Joseph Crooms (11:11)
Okay, wow. That’s faith.

Harmony Edwards (11:14)
But because it came so quickly, I was, like, confident that, you know, I was like, this is what I should have been doing all along. And I can say that closing came very quickly. The next one, it did not. It did not come as quick. That seven thousand dollars had to last me quite some time.

Joseph Crooms (11:31)
I love it. So that leads me to this next question. I know that’s not easy. What’s been the key to keeping your machine running smoothly?

Harmony Edwards (11:42)
The key to keeping my machine running smoothly is being able to pivot when, when business is not going exactly how you expect it to do. So, like, there has been times where, mentally or emotionally, the hurdles that I’m faced—well, you know, like, you hit hurdles in business. It’s just everybody, every business owner, it doesn’t matter what business you’re operating in, is gonna hit some hurdles along the way. And I think that being able to either get over those hurdles or figure out another route and pivot around those

is what protects your, your profit, what protects your business, what protects your reputation, and protects your longevity as well. So I have hit hurdles where I was upside down, negative, right?

And mostly because I was—instead of taking, like, advice from anybody else—and I was, I was learning it the hard way. I was just, like, quitting my job when I got my first check. I was moving very quickly instead of evaluating the deals that, that I needed to do a better evaluation on. And those were, like, personal investment deals, not my own real estate sales team.

Joseph Crooms (12:52)
It’s interesting that you said that, taking advice from other people. What have you learned in building relationships that are really meaningful to you?

Harmony Edwards (13:04)
What I’ve learned with building relationships outside of, like, my sphere of influence, as I continue to grow my network and the individuals that I choose to keep really close to me—the ones, ’cause you network with a lot of people in real estate and, and in business, right? And sometimes you do business with these people, but maybe you don’t keep them close. They don’t become friends. But what I noticed is the people that I tend to align with well with are very authentic. Like, they don’t really care about what people are thinking about them.

And I think that aligns with my mindset as well. So they’ll give you their honest opinion, and it doesn’t matter if I, if that opinion resonates with me or not, but I’m able to then listen to them, and I know that that’s their honest and authentic story. That’s what happened to them, and they’re giving me value with their experience.

Joseph Crooms (13:52)
I can see that you’re very solid on both ends, and, and you’re now breaking into the commercial end. You talked—let’s talk a few minutes about how you’re giving back. You talked about that you’re part of a women’s group. Do you mind sharing what that is about?

Harmony Edwards (14:11)
Yes. So in June, actually on my birthday, we launched Real Harmony Coaching House, which is a women’s coaching group. We meet once a week, and we meet for an hour and a half. We’re going through real estate strategies completely from—it’s, it’s everything. So it’s very compact. It’s from learning how to get your license to learning how to wholesale a deal, so that you’re building income within the real estate business and industry.

But we’re also walking them through their own purchases. So they’re going to be able to purchase their first properties, their investment properties. Some of them are already homeowners, but they’re—they don’t have a portfolio yet. So we’re working on building them up a portfolio so they have income optionality, which is the same thing as passive income. But instead of it just being something that’s passive income, this is an income that allows you the freedom of choice, right? Income optionality is the income that gives you options to do

whatever you want, if that’s continue working, if that’s travel, whatever. But we’re helping them to build a life with investments and sales together. So they’re learning the sales side of the business and the investment side so that they can overlap the two and succeed in real estate.

Joseph Crooms (16:05)
I mean, when you develop this, and I can tell that you’re doing it from your heart to give back, so many people can gain this knowledge. Harmony, when you find a real superstar, do you get them on your team?

Harmony Edwards (16:17)
Exactly. I was totally upfront with them. I’m like, two weeks ago in one of our classes, we were talking about it, and I said, like, this is how you can get your real estate license. These are some affiliate links that I will get paid if you sign up through these affiliate links, right? Because they’re online courses for the real estate class in their states. I don’t teach the real estate class. I just teach investments, but I will guide them to the real estate class.

And, and then I obviously do a pitch. If you wanna come onto our team, we’re national. We have connections in every state. You’re free to join the team. You also are gonna get this—you know, you’re already a part of the coaching program—but then you’ll get the sales one-on-one mentoring on the team as well.

Joseph Crooms (16:56)
Okay, so that’s the kind of stuff people don’t talk about, and I thank you for your transparency. But you’re giving people something in return. That’s really great. It’s what separates folks from who are dabbling from those that, who stay in the game long term. So let me ask you this: what are you focused on solving or scaling next? What’s your next real goal?

Harmony Edwards (17:18)
That is the next goal. So the goal is to scale this real estate team so it’s at a national level, and we have agents operating in every state. But what our agents are operating on is they’re also building their own portfolios. So I wanna have agents that are out there that know how to do investments because they’re also investing. They’re not just speaking about investments. They’re actually actively investing.

Joseph Crooms (17:40)
That’s big, especially with what you’re already doing. The next move can either compound things or create chaos, depending on how you play it. So, so now I know a lot of our listeners are either early in their journey or looking to level up, and I think they’ll benefit from hearing this. When it comes to building relationships in your network, what’s made the biggest difference for you?

Harmony Edwards (18:06)
The biggest difference is, number one, I always, I always lead with authenticity. So I think that’s always gonna be my number one answer, is, like, being truly authentic with yourself, because people can see that. You know, like, if you’re trying to fake it, if you’re coming in and acting like something that you’re not, or being, or pretending, or lying, whatever it is that you’re doing, a lot of people that have, like, strong discernment, they can catch on to that very quickly. A lot of people that have already been in business for many years, they can catch on to, like, foolishness very quickly.

So just avoiding that and being truly authentic allows you to build true relationships with people, and then they want to call you back. Like, you don’t have to chase these people because they’re gonna reach out to you. That’s what I learned. And then I always say the rule of fifty-two. I learned that a few years ago. And if you’re going to, like, a networking event at least once a week and meeting people that you’ve never spoken with before, like, I’ll drive out of the area or fly out of the area, whatever it takes,

so that I can get into the rooms with people that I need to be around.

Joseph Crooms (19:06)
Yeah, you can’t fake that. Relationships are everything in this space. Before we come to a close, we’ve probably got about four more minutes. Talk about how you built relationships with some of the, like, property managers. You said you built the referral base. How did you build those relationships? ‘Cause is that key to your business?

Harmony Edwards (19:27)
That is, that’s been a hundred percent the key to my business. I mean, we don’t even pay for leads. So a hundred percent of our leads are coming in as, like, referrals, either from our sphere of influence, past clients, or one of the services that we do have a relationship with, that we’re passing leads back and forth with.

Joseph Crooms (19:48)
These, these relationships, like with your property managers and things like that, and I can tell that these are solid, but they may not be owned by you, or they may not be yours. But how did you build those relationships? And you sort of alluded to it. You said that they help give you some leads too, so can you talk—

Harmony Edwards (20:04)
So

what I did is I go to those networking events. I make sure that I’m meeting people specifically in industries where I know our businesses are going to overlap. And I’m not talking about, like, lenders, because a lot of real estate agents, they go after lenders. It’s like, you don’t need to go after lenders. Lenders need you. You go after everybody else that doesn’t really need you, right? And then figure out how you can provide some help for them, and then you trade—

Joseph Crooms (20:22)
Right.

Harmony Edwards (20:31)
—back contacts, and they, they build relationships with you, become great friends with these people. I go out to eat with them, hang out with them. Like, we’ll travel together now because we have great relationships outside of our network.

But the biggest thing for me was, one, going to those events, putting my name out there, and letting them know, this is what I can do for you. Like, when I have somebody that needs a roof, I will call you for the roof, and I will make sure that they’re calling you first. Even if I refer two other people, I’m gonna let them know that you and I have a relationship already, and I trust you.

So I would build those types of relationships with people. And then social media was, like, a mega change for me. I’d utilize TikTok, Instagram, and LinkedIn. I do Facebook, but Facebook, I say, is—I run ads on Facebook. A lot of my organic leads and other company relationships that I have built and grown has come from Instagram and LinkedIn.

Joseph Crooms (21:24)
Thank you for sharing that. That, that was really, you know, gave some real knowledge to some people. Okay, yes. So, so, all right, before we wrap it up, if someone wanted to reach out to Harmony Edwards, connect with you, or maybe collaborate, or learn more about what you’re doing, what’s the best way to reach you? And you can give all the things that you are involved in. And guess what, Harmony? Repeat it twice for those that’s trying to fumble and find a pen while you’re talking.

Harmony Edwards (21:50)
All right, that works. If you want to follow me on Instagram, which is, like, the number one place to reach out to me, if you DM me, I’m very quick to follow up there. And that is @harmony.buys.houses. And then also, you can find me pretty much anywhere, is @harmony.buys.houses. So I am @harmony.buys.houses on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can find me @harmonyedwards1 on Facebook

or on LinkedIn. And you can go to my website, if you’re a woman and you want to join our coaching program, or you just want to check it out and see what it’s about. We have a free class every Tuesday at eight PM. That’s at RealHarmony.online.

Joseph Crooms (22:37)
And, you know, Harmony, so now some woman is trying to get that last bit, and she said she was too quick. Run them all back one more time.

Harmony Edwards (22:44)
And

and the website is Real, R-E-A-L, Harmony, H-A-R-M-O-N-Y, dot online. And that’s to sign up for your free masterclass at eight PM every Tuesday, and you get a free worksheet with that as well.

Joseph Crooms (23:03)
Thank you, Harmony. Well, well, listen, I appreciate your time, Harmony, your, your passion, your commitment, and your ideology, and, you know, how you’re approaching things. We need more people in spaces that are doing the right things the right way. Thanks again for being here. And also, thank you for tuning in. I know that all of our listeners that are out there today, you gotta subscribe, because we got more operators just like Harmony Edwards

who’s out there. We got more conversations coming with them from all over. People out there doing real business, helping people and their communities. So we’re gonna see you on the next episode of Investor Fuel Real Estate, what? Pros Podcast.